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Monday, April 30, 2012

Widow, mother-in-law of Davis shoot victim in Pakistan


The widow and mother-in-law of a man killed by CIA contractor Raymond Davis was today murdered along with her mother in Lahore following a family dispute over the blood money and her desire to remarry, in Lahore, Pakistan, police officials said.
Police said that both the women were found dead in their Jauher Town residence.


Zehra, 23, and her mother Nabeela were shot and killed in their home in Township area of Lahore by her father Shehzad Butt.
Zehra was the widow of Faizan Haider, one of the two men who were shot dead by Davis last year.
Zohra, the widow of Faizan Haider, and her mother were shot in a family dispute at their home, said police Inspector Javed Siddiqui. The bodies were sent to a hospital for an autopsy, and authorities were seeking a suspect, he said.


Haider was one of two men killed in Lahore in January 2011 by Raymond Davis, an American CIA contractor. The deaths sparked a diplomatic tussle that strained relations between the United States and Pakistan.
Davis said he shot the two in self-defense when they attempted to rob him at gunpoint as he drove through a busy Lahore neighborhood, but authorities at the time called the case "clear-cut murder."
He was charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm, but was released after more than $2 million in compensation was paid to the victims' families, according to Pakistani officials.
The killings caused outrage in Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan. And it heightened tension between the two nations, with Congress warning Pakistani leaders that billions of dollars in U.S. aid could be jeopardized without Davis' release.
Davis appeared in a Lahore court after the payment was made and was acquitted of the charges in accordance with an Islamic practice known as diyat, or compensation. Diyat, enshrined in Pakistan's penal code, allows victims to pardon a murderer with or without being paid "blood money."
Haider's widow submitted an affidavit to court stating she had pardoned Davis after the payment.
The heirs of Fahim Shamshad, Davis' other victim, also received payment, Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister of Punjab province, said at the time.
Davis was finally freed when he paid millions of rupees as blood money to the families of the dead men.
Fahim Shamshad's widow committed suicide in Faisalabad days after the shooting.
"Today the wife of Faizan Haider is also no more. Money was the real bone of contention in Zehra's case," said Abid Hsasan, one of Zehra's neighbors.

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